Book Drives in Action

Darien Girl Scout Troops 50807 & 50559

02/05/2016 onward02/05/2016 to 05/25/2016

Darien CT

We are working with the African Library Project to provide books to eager readers in Africa who have very few books. Please help us by collecting and delivering gently used books or by raising money to help pay for shipping to Africa. It takes only 1000 books and $500 (plus a little elbow grease!) to start a single library and make a huge difference in children’s lives.

This book drive is organized by ...

Two 5th grade Junior Girl Scout troops from Darien, CT, an east coast town about 45 minutes outside of New York City. We are working together to earn our Bronze Award, the highest award you can earn in the 5th grade.

Our website link:

We want to start a library in Africa because...

We are blessed to live in an area of the country where resources are plentiful. We go to wonderful schools and all love to read. Knowing how to read opens a world of possibilities -- you can take care of your children when they need medicine, you can travel, you can go to school and be who you want to be.

About our African Partners...

We are building two libraries in Malawi, Africa one for the Misanjo Free Primary School and one for the Mtambuwa LEA Primary School. Malawi is a poor country in terms of wealth, but a very friendly and welcoming one. All children must attend primary school (elementary school) but only about a quarter of children go on to secondary school (middle and high school and college). Most African children grow up without books, while U.S. bookshelves and landfills overflow with books no longer read. We want to fix that!

Please contribute these kinds of books...

We will be collecting 2000 gently used and new books (1000 for each library). Approximately two third of the books we need are for preschool-4th graders and one third of the books we need are for 5th-8th graders. Baby board books, children's picture books, children's fiction and non-fiction, early readers, and big books are all great!

Please DO NOT give us books that reference appliances or electronic gadgets, adult paperbacks, books about the United States, books about North American or religious holidays, or magazines. You can donate these elsewhere!

Here's how you can contribute your books...

If you have books to donate, please reach out to one of the scout contacts in Troops 50807 or 50559 and arrange to drop the books to them. We will be sorting and packing books in May.

We need to raise funds for shipping the books...

Each book drive organizer (us!) is responsible for covering the costs of shipping books to Africa. This is done in two stages. We will raise approximately $250-$350 to ship the books to the African Library warehouse in New Orleans. Then we pay $250 to cover our share of the International shipping chargers of the container of libraries from New Orleans to Africa. So our goal is to raise at least $1000 for the TWO LIBRARIES.

Here are some ways that you can help...

Be on the lookout for all of our different fundraisers. We will be holding bake sales, craft sales, and tag sales. We have plans for lemonade stands and will be walking dogs, doing chores, and babysitting. Every scout will be raising $25-$50 on her own, and then we'll be working as a group to raise the rest!